The Campbell Planning Commission is recommending an amendment to parts of the city’s municipal code that address emergency shelters and transitional and supportive housing.

The text amendment, which was postponed due to the past economic downturn and staffing shortages, pertain to the city’s current housing element, according to planning manager Aki Honda Snelling. The amendment aims to bring the housing element into compliance with Senate Bill 2, which was put into effect in 2008, and the recent SB-745.

Emergency shelters and transitional and supportive housing is geared toward the homeless and special need population, Honda Snelling said.

In order to be compliant with the bill, the city should list manufactured housing as approved in residential zones; define single-room occupancy and allow in R3 zones as conditionally permitted use; eliminate conditional use permit and spacing requirements for transitional housing in residential zones; and identify emergency shelters as permitted in the light-industrial zoning district bounded by Camden Avenue, Los Gatos Creek County Park, Hacienda Avenue and Winchester Boulevard.

Honda Snelling said there is already an ordinance for emergency shelters, but through a conditional-use permit. The amendment would allow for zoning by right.

The developer would still need to go through the usual process of obtaining permits and meeting standards, but would not need to go through the process of obtaining the conditional-use permit, which would go through a further public hearing process, Honda Snelling said.

According to the Santa Clara County 2013 Homeless Census and Survey, there were 7,631 total (including sheltered and unsheltered) people who were homeless in the county, an increase of 564 people since 2011.

The city of Campbell, the census shows, had 91 individuals who were homeless in 2013, 12 fewer than in 2011.

At the Aug. 26 planning commission meeting, Honda Snelling presented the amendment to the commission and answered questions.

“A lot of other cities in the surrounding area have already adopted these ordinances,” she said. “Cupertino is…working on it as part of their current housing element.”

Honda Snelling said the 2015—2023 Housing Element being worked on now assumes that this issues is addressed prior to it taking effect.

Commissioner Philip Reynolds was supportive of the amendment, although it had been set in motion before his time on the planning commission.

“This is a significant land-use issue,” Reynolds told the commission, asking that the commission be “apprised” when similar issues arose. “When you say ‘homeless shelter,’ it becomes controversial out in the community.”

Commissioner Donald Young agreed terms like “homeless shelter” and “manufactured housing” stir up fear and uncertainty, but said he looks forward to seeing how things go and hopefully the fear will go away.

“These things strike a chord with us,” Young said. “But as our community’s changing and there’s people who need help, sometimes we have to find the best ways we can do that.”

The planning commission’s recommendation will now go to the city council for approval at a future meeting.